My month in Massachusetts

where I went this month

My take on Massachusetts

Massachusetts seems larger than it is (44th among the states in size), partly because of the geographic diversity.  Elevations run from sea level in the east and south over to the Berkshires along the west.  But there seem to be few flat areas in the state, as I found hills small and large almost everywhere.

People are relatively friendly but they can be impatient drivers.  Especially those in Boston, who sound (based on their horns honking) as if they taught New York City drivers how to be rude.  In the rest of the state, though, they show a reasonable level of patience with people like me who get into awkward situations.  And they are very generous to pedestrians, as long as they see them.

Bay Staters seem to like their state a lot.  I did find a few people who said they'd rather be living in Maine, mainly to get away from so many people and not be living on top of each other, so to speak.

On the other hand, I talked to a man who had moved from his home on the south shore of Long Island, which he had loved, into the middle of Boston to be near his grandchildren, and he loved that a lot too.  He talked about how great it was that Boston is a city of small neighborhoods, each with its own shops and services, and how everybody walks everywhere.  He liked that as a senior citizen he could pay 85¢ to ride the mass transit system and go anywhere for 2 hours without paying more.

He was right about people walking a lot.  I saw very few truly overweight people in this state, and I saw people walking everywhere.  This is not a state where people get mad if they can't park right by the front door of a store.  They seem to think nothing of walking several blocks just to get to the post office.  They equate cars with convenience, not necessity.  They ride bicycles a lot, all over.  There are designated bike trails all over the state and they are heavily used.

In Texas we can drive right onto the beach, and I've been finding it increasingly frustrating that I'm not allowed to do that along the Atlantic.  Frustrating mainly because parking is so expensive, and because fair chunks of beach have been marked off as private property.  The battle against privatizing the beach is being fought town by town but seems to me to be something that should be addressed statewide.  But I wish I could tell them what a big mistake they're making by allowing that.  They don't have to allow driving on the beach, but the ocean and the beach are public resources and it's wrong wrong wrong to claim otherwise, no matter how much money you pay for your house facing it.

Massachusetts was the scene of a lot of early US history and people are proud of that and encouraged me to go visit various places - Concord, for instance, and the sites in Boston.

Massachusetts is also the home of a zillion institutions of higher learning - you can hardly kick over a rock without finding another one.  And many of them are highly prestigious: MIT, Harvard, several of the Seven Sisters colleges are here.  Clearly they value education here.

I liked Massachusetts and the people I met here, though this is not a state for driving a large vehicle in.  And I don't think this is a state for timid people.  The people here seem to be living in a forceful sort of way - I don't know quite how to describe it - they aren't pushy, just not laid back.


What I missed that I wanted to see

I missed a lot and am sorry I did.

In Lexington, there's a Scottish Rite Masonic Museum that's supposed to be good, and I missed it only because there was so much Revolutionary War history in the same area.

In Leominster (pronounced LEM-min-ster) there's a plaque marking the birthplace of Johnny Appleseed that I wanted to see but just couldn't get back up there once I found out about it.

Lowell has several places I wanted to visit: a Jack Kerouac Commemorative (Lowell was his hometown); the Boott Cotton Mills Museum and nearby Mill Girls' Immigrants Exhibit; New England Quilt Museum.

Lawrence was the birthplace of Robert Frost and Leonard Bernstein.

As I've noted, I really wanted to get to the birthplaces of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams in Quincy.

I somehow spaced out that the first Pres. George Bush was born in Milton.  I understand the home is privately owned but would certainly have gone by if I'd noticed I'd written that down.

And then there's Boston.  I've been there several times before and love that city, but I've noticed on earlier visits that it's not a place to drive in if you can avoid it, and this visit was no different.  The frustration of getting so thoroughly lost when I was visiting the JFK birthplace made me decide not to try it again without using a very different game plan, which I just couldn't arrange this trip.

So I missed seeing the capitol building, which I've seen before and know is buried among other taller buildings - but it's pretty and I wanted to see it again.  I wanted to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum, the JFK Library, Fenway Park.  There's a John Singer Sargent in the Boston Public Library.  I've seen Cheers before but it wouldn't have hurt my feelings to see it again.  And I really like following the Freedom Trail.  I could spend a week in this city and not run out of things to see.

Massachusetts is worth an extra visit.  With a smaller vehicle.